Teal Hair, Don’t Care: Tips and Tricks

A lot of people ask me about my hair. It’s not very common for a blue/green haired person to exist, especially in the UP. It helps when I say I’m a creative person: a photographer, designer, blogger. Somehow, my career choices allow me to have mermaid colored hair and get away with it.

Of all the colors I’ve done, blue has been my favorite. I think it suits me really well, and I love that there are so many different shades that fall under the “blue” category.

People seem surprised when I tell them I dye it myself. They seem even more surprised when I tell them that it only takes me 10-20 minutes to get the dye in. After dying my hair multiple colors, I’ve learned what dyes work, and which ones don’t. When it comes to fantasy colors, you have to be aware of a couple things:

Color

Bleed

Blend

Fade

Compatibility

Personal convictions

Color

Color is getting the exact hue that you want and the exact saturation. If you’re looking for a pale pink, as opposed to a vibrant Barbie pink, you’ll want to know exactly which brands kick out the color you want. It takes a bit of experimenting and a bit of research, but if you’ve been doing it for a while like myself, you kind of already know which brands have the colors you want.

Bleed

Bleed is knowing how much of the color will come out in the shower, on your pillowcase, and on the collars of your shirts. Some brands bleed a lot, while others barely bleed at all.

Blend

If you’re blending two colors together (or three or four or seven), you’ll want to know what colors work well together. Be aware that if you’re trying to ombre your colors that it’s easy for lighter sections to get blended in with darker sections during the rinsing process.

Fade

As you wash your hair, go out in the sun, or swim, your color will begin to fade. That’s totally normal. The question you should be asking when choosing a color brand is: Which brands fade the slowest? I’ve found that it usually depends more on the color than the brand. Blues tend to quickly fade to green, and reds tend to stick around for a lot longer.

Compatibility

Just like how you would match certain accessories together (or totally NOT), be aware of what colors might best suit your complexion and hair style. I’ve seen some people who really shouldn’t have tried the barbie pink, but then did. In the end, it didn’t work so well… (I’m talking about myself here. I learned rather quick that while red-pink and pale-pink look good on me, hot-Barbie-pink does NOT.)

Personal Convictions

To me, it’s important that the hair color brands I use are vegan and cruelty-free. No animal testing. In the end, that’s a personal choice, but be aware that not all brands stick to the “cruelty-free” moto. It’s important to do some research when looking up the dye you want to try out.

What I Use

I, personally, am a huge fan of Arctic Fox. They have an amazing variety of colored dyes, and the product is sooooooo creamy! There is minimal bleed (like OMG!) and the fade is gradual and usually beautiful. I absolutely LOVED the fade from their Virgin Pink, and the Aquamarine is super super nice.

For my hair right now, I’ve got in Arctic Fox’s Aquamarine mixed with a little of Manic Panic’s Amplified serum of Siren’s Song ranging from my roots down to halfway through my hair. The rest down to the ends is Arctic Fox’s Phantom Green.

I absolutely love this stuff, and if you’re looking for a more subtle color, this mixes really well with conditioner for that perfect pastel look. I will forever and always be a HUGE fan of Arctic Fox. I have a ton of their colors already, hidden in a box under my sink for later uses. I can always count on gorgeous, long lasting color, with minimal bleed. They also blend really nicely, so you can’t even tell where the blue stops and the green starts!

If you have any questions, or want to know more about my method, let me know! I’ll probably do a more in depth post soon. What colors would YOU be willing to rock?

I’ve always though that dying my hair a fun color, for the short term, could be really fun. And I know my older son would find it really funny if I did it too. How long does Arctic Fox last out of curiosity?

It really does depend on the color. The pink I had last year lasted for a month and a half between redding it. The blue and green I have now faded in three weeks to a month. It all depends on how often you wash your hair. I usually re-dye mine once a month 🙂

I love your hair! In college I had blue hair, then half black/half red, half black/half purple & finally half black/half blue. My favorite was when I had blue hair & I always used Manic Panic, but I’ve heard a lot about Arctic Fox. If I decided to dye my hair again, I’ll have to check them out!